Container Gardening
Author: Fern Richardson
Unlike most of the country, some of the hottest days of the year are still yet to come for Southern California and the rest of the Southwest. Hot, dry winds are brutal on plants, but especially those growing in containers. They dry out plants faster than the plant can draw up water through its roots, so no amount of extra watering will help. That’s what got me thinking that colorful succulents could be a great, low-maintenance choice for Fall.
This container is actually not a traditional container. I really like reusing objects that are no longer suitable for their original purpose. A lot of times they make excellent containers, and it keeps some trash out of the landfill. In the case of the container I’ve got here, it is actually an old flour sifter that had become too rusty to use to fluff up baking ingredients.
For this project, you’ll need 3-5 small succulents (or hardened off cuttings from your existing plants). You’ll also need a flour sifter, or a similarly sized container of your choice. If you do go with a flour sifter, grab a coffee filter as well to cover the mesh and help keep the soil from falling through the mesh. Oh, and while we’re talking soil, it’s important to get soil especially meant for cacti and succulents, it drains better.
Place the coffee filter into the bottom of the flour sifter and fill it partially with potting mix. Start with the largest or most difficult to handle succulent first. If the pot of succulents you bought actually has several plants in the pot, you can gently break them apart to get them to fit into the flour sifter the way you want.
Be sure to take the opportunity to clean up the plants before placing them in the flour sifter. You can gently pull off the dead leaves and brush away the soil that has built up around the rim of the plant’s former container (right where my thumb is).
Gently “stuff” the next succulent in place. Again, I like to work from largest/most difficult to handle, to smallest/toughest. When you’ve got the last plant in place, you can fill in with more potting soil. Use a soft brush to remove soil that may have gotten stuck between the succulents’ leaves.
Voila! Most succulents like filtered light or part-shade. I only water mine when they show ever-so-slight signs of wilting. Often times, that means I go weeks between waterings
